System and method for establishing and maintaining a connection between devices

ABSTRACT

A system and method to establish and maintain a connection between devices, which in one example embodiment of a method, may comprise sending a request to establish a connection between a first communication device and a second communication device. A first connection between the first communication device and the second communication device is caused to be established via a data network. Based on the determination that quality of the first connection over the data network is low, causing a second connection to be established between the first communication device and the second communication device. Communication is shifted from the first connection to the second connection.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/585,444 filed on Aug. 14, 2012, which is acontinuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/044,772filed on Mar. 10, 2011, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,854, which is acontinuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/960,579filed on Dec. 19, 2007, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,930,405, which is acontinuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/468,353filed on Aug. 18, 2003, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,711,823, which is aU.S. National Stage Filing under 35 U.S.C. 371 from International PatentApplication No. PCT/FI02/00133 filed on Feb. 18, 2002, and published asWO 02/073892 A1 on Sep. 19, 2002, which in turn claims the prioritybenefit of Finland Application No. 20010297 filed on Feb. 16, 2001, theentire content of each application being incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

For a long time now the infrastructure represented by telecommunicationnetworks has been growing rapidly while at the same time these networkshave become more versatile and technologically more advanced. The oldfixed analog telephone network has been replaced by a digital one.Mobile networks have been set up to complement the fixed telephonenetwork, enabling the use of wireless terminals with little geographicallimitations. On the other hand, separate data networks have been built.These include a great number of local area networks (LAN) of privatenature, and a plurality of public data networks. The most important ofthe public data networks is the global Internet through which a vastnumber of servers and other sites can be reached. One of the factorsthat make it so tempting to use the Internet for a variety of datatransfer purposes, such as to transfer voice and picture signals, isthat it is so inexpensive, i.e. the cost payable by the user per amountof data transferred is relatively small.

At the core of the so-called system architecture of the Internet thereis a protocol pair called the TCP/IP (Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol). Transmission session is controlled at thetransfer end points according to the TCP, and TCP data frames arefragmented into smaller “packets” and these packets are then routedthrough the network according to the IP. Routing is generally based onnetwork addresses of terminals, these addresses being global IPaddresses in the case of the Internet. On the basis of a plain-textreceiver address given by the user, the sending terminal is able to geta corresponding IP address from a server set up especially for thispurpose and to attach that IP address to the data packets to be sent. Ifthe recipient is at a usual location such as home or office, no problemsusually occur with the transfer. The situation becomes more complicatedif the recipient is moving. Even if he were close to a machineinterfaced with the Internet, the transfer could not be completed if thesender did not know the network address for the machine in question. Thesender cannot even know whether the recipient can be reached or not. Itis conceivable that the sender first calls the recipient on his mobilephone to inquire about this, but this is a clumsy way and, moreover,incurs phone costs. Furthermore, the recipient's mobile phone may beswitched off or the recipient may not have a mobile phone to begin with.

Publication WO 9816045 discloses a system which alleviates the problemmentioned above. FIG. 1 illustrates the overall structure of the system.It includes a server 120 interfaced with a data network 110 such as theInternet, and terminals, normally computers, interfaced with that samenetwork. FIG. 1 shows two terminal computers DTA and DTB. A system userreports to the server at a terminal computer. A registration messagecontains the network address of the terminal computer in question andthe password and personal identifier entered by the user. The serverresponds by sending a list of persons who at that moment can be reachedso-called “OnLine.” The list only includes persons belonging to a groupdefined by the user. In FIG. 1, a user, person A, is sitting at terminalcomputer DTA, and a user, or person B, is sitting at terminal computerDTB. If person A wants to contact person B, he sends a message fromterminal computer DTA to the server 120, which message contains the nameof person B. If person B can be reached, the server responds by sendingto terminal computer DTA, via a route 111, the network address ADB ofterminal computer DTB. In addition, the server sends to terminalcomputer DTB, via a route 112, the network address ADA of terminalcomputer DTA and the name of person A. After that, persons A and B canbegin to communicate via a route 113, where the server is no longerneeded. A person who has joined this kind of a service may also reservea right to restrict the distribution of his address information. In thatcase the server that received a connection request for such a personfirst asks the person in question whether the requester can be sentinformation about whether the person can be reached. The person can theneither allow or deny the sending of that information.

So the idea of the system disclosed in publication WO 9816045 is to makeit easier for persons belonging to the same circle of acquaintances, forexample, to establish connections between them. To that end, the serverkeeps a register for the group associations, personal data and onlinetraffic data of the persons subscribing to the service. A drawback ofthe system is that a user must himself start, at the terminal computer,a software application according to the system and enter his personalidentifier so as to register in on the server. Moreover, the user mustactively observe his computer so as to be able to respond to aconnection request. Another drawback is that communication is limited tothe exchange of text messages and files, and the user is tied to theterminal computer for the duration of the connection.

Publication WO 0165821 discloses a system employing a data network,involving portable devices such as laptop computers in the vicinity ofnetwork terminals. A portable device is equipped with a small-rangeradio device and software required by the system in question. Theportable device repeatedly sends out a reporting message. When it comesclose to a data network terminal, the latter detects the reportingmessage and sends to a data network server a registration requestcontaining user-specific information that was included in the reportingmessage. This way the user's device is linked to the network. The systemdoes not include any special connection establishing service.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is below described in detail. Reference is made to theaccompanying drawings in which

FIG. 1 shows an example of a prior-art arrangement for establishing aconnection,

FIG. 2 shows an example of an arrangement according to the invention forestablishing a connection,

FIG. 3 shows an example of a method according to the invention forestablishing a connection,

FIG. 4 shows an example of an arrangement associated with the handoverbetween terminals,

FIG. 5 shows an example of alternative routes from a communicationdevice to a data network,

FIG. 6 shows an example of the use of fixed telephone lines according tothe invention,

FIG. 7 shows an example of establishing a connection via severalconsecutive wireless data links,

FIG. 8 shows an arrangement enabling a data network and mobilecommunications network to be used in combination, and

FIG. 9 shows a distributed server architecture according to theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 2 shows an example of an arrangement according to the invention ina connection establishment situation. In the Figure there can be seen adata network 210, in this example the Internet, with a server 220 linkedthereto. The server maintains a register REG required by the connectionestablishing service according to the invention, which register containscommunication device specific records, among other things. FIG. 2 showstwo computers DTA and DTB having Internet interface with appropriatenetwork software and IP addresses of their own. Thus they function asInternet terminals. In the vicinity of a first terminal DTA there isperson A holding in his hand a first communication device MSA, which isa terminal of a mobile communication network. The first terminal DTAincludes a wireless transmitter/receiver unit 23A having a relativelysmall operating range. Let this and corresponding units be calledtransceivers for short. The first communication device MSA includes atransceiver 24A operating according to the same system as thetransceiver 23A in the first terminal. Transceivers 23A and 24A (and theradio path between them) constitute a digital transfer system throughwhich the first communication device and first terminal can sendmessages to each other. The transceivers automatically detect a carrieraccording to the transfer system so that the terminal and communicationdevice will “know” that the transfer system is up. Transmitting andreceiving naturally require that both devices include an applicationprogram that provides the data to be sent to the transfer system andprocesses the data coming from the transfer system.

In the vicinity of the second terminal DTB there is person B with asecond communication device MSB, in this example a terminal of a mobilecommunication network, in her pocket. In conjunction with the secondterminal DTB there is a transceiver 23B which in this example is anexternal unit connected to the terminal computer by a cable. The secondcommunication device MSB includes a transceiver 24B which together withthe transceiver 23B in the second terminal and the radio paththerebetween constitute a digital transfer system. In other respects,too, the arrangement is similar to that described above and related tothe first terminal.

In the situation depicted by FIG. 2, person A is calling person B.Before that, said communication devices have automatically reportedthemselves to the server 220, the first communication device MSA whenperson A has come close enough to the first terminal DTA, and the secondcommunication device MSB when person B has come close enough to thesecond terminal DTB. Software at the server has recorded the identifierssent by the communication devices along with the fact that the firstcommunication device is at that moment behind the IP address ADA of thefirst terminal and the second communication device is at that momentbehind the IP address ADB of the second terminal. In the usual manner,person A has selected the name of person B in the menu of hiscommunication device, which in this case is a mobile phone, and pressedthe call button. The software at the mobile phone can be set to a statein which it first attempts to establish a connection via a data networkif there exists a link to a terminal of a data network. Thecommunication device may also include a sound or light indicator whichtells the user that a data network connection is available. In that casethe user can, if he or she wants, to direct the connection request, orcall, to the data network manually using the keyboard or, as is the casewith some communication device models, using a voice command. In theexample of FIG. 2, the server has received a call containing the phonenumber of person B. Software at the server has checked the communicationdevice specific record in the register and ascertained that the secondcommunication device MSB is reachable. After that the server has forinstance sent to the first terminal the IP address ADB of the secondterminal, and to the second terminal the IP address ADA of the firstterminal. The latter sending further includes the call containing theidentification given earlier by the second communication device. Thesecond terminal forwards the call to the second communication device,which then alerts. This stage is depicted in FIG. 2. If person Banswers, a speech connection will be established via the Internet. Thefirst and second terminals use each other's IP addresses when sendingpackets containing pieces of the encoded speech signal, so the packetstravel via a route 213 between the interfaces of said terminals.

FIG. 3 provides an example of the method according to the invention inthe form of flow diagram. The situation at the beginning of the diagramis such that a data transfer link has been established between acommunication device CA and a data network terminal DTA and thecommunication device has reported itself to data network servermaintaining a register of communication devices. The reporting messagesent by the communication device includes a code that usually identifiesthe device in question, which code may be e.g. one invented by the user,an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) code, or the phonenumber of the communication device. The reporting message sent by theterminal additionally includes the network address of the terminal. Thisis always included in the header of, say, IP packets, but if the networkaddress is additionally included in the data field, also the applicationprogram at the receiving server will get it. In step 301 a call is sentout from a communication device A. The call naturally contains theidentifying code for the called device. This identifier may be a phonenumber or some other code. In addition, the call includes the identifierof the calling device CA. The call is sent via said link to terminal DTAwhich sends a connect request to said server, using server's networkaddress (step 302). The connect request message includes the identifierof the called device CB and the identifier of the calling device CA orthe network address of terminal DTA. In the next step 303 the serversoftware examines the register for that part, i.e. a record, whichrelates to the called device CB, which record is found by the softwareon the basis of the identifier code in the connect request message. Ifthe contents of the record show that device CB cannot be reached withinthe coverage area of any terminal, the server may send a block messageto terminal DTA, steps 304 and 308. If the contents of the record showthat device CB can be reached in the coverage area of a terminal DTB,the terminals DTA and DTB are brought to get each other's networkaddresses, steps 304 and 305. This may be done in one of three differentways: The server sends to terminal DTA a message containing the networkaddress of terminal DTB and to terminal DTB a message containing thenetwork address of terminal DTA. A second way is such that the serversends to terminal DTA a message containing the network address ofterminal DTB, and terminal DTA then sends to terminal DTB a messagecontaining its own network address. A third way, similar to the secondone, is such that the server sends to terminal DTB a message containingthe network address of terminal DTA, and terminal DTB then sends toterminal DTA a message containing its own network address. In step 306the server sends to terminal DTB a call containing the identifier of thecommunication device CB, and terminal DTB forwards the call to device CBvia the link between these two devices. The incoming call results in analert in device CB, and in step 307, when the user of device CB hasacknowledged the call, an answer is sent to the calling device CA. Theanswer message travels via the route device CB—terminal DTB—data network(routers)—terminal DTA—device CA. The server maintaining the deviceregister is no longer needed since the data network terminals now knoweach other's network addresses. When the answer arrives at device CA,the data connection between the devices via the data network is ready tobe used.

During a connection between communication devices the transfer systembetween a communication device and a terminal monitors the quality ofthe communications link in question. This may be based, as is wellknown, on monitoring the level of the carrier or the signal-to-noiseratio; the same thing which the establishment of the connection is basedon initially. In step 311 of FIG. 3 the software at the terminal, forinstance, decides whether the quality of the connection is satisfactory.If it is, monitoring is continued. If the connection quality shows signsof significant degradation, it is examined whether there is another datanetwork terminal nearby that could be used for continuing the connectionbetween the communication devices (step 312). If there is, the “old”terminal serving the communication device is replaced by a “new” one,step 313. If no new terminal is found, the process returns to step 311,i.e. an attempt is made to continue the connection using the currentterminal. As the communication device moves farther away from theterminal, the link to the data network will naturally be disrupted atsome point. Possibly prior to that or after that a replacementconnection is established via a mobile communication network, forexample.

For a change of terminals the software at the server draws conclusionsabout the relative locations of terminals equipped with transceivers. Ina simple case, the relative locations of two terminals relatively closeto each other becomes apparent from that a communication device reportsitself first via one terminal and then via the other when a networkconnection is active via the former. Location information can also beobtained in such a manner that terminals exchange messages for thatparticular purpose. When such an exchange of messages is successful, aterminal can send to a server according to the invention a messagecontaining the identifiers of the parties, primarily the networkaddresses, and a parameter describing the quality of the link, forexample. Based on such information, server software can outline a sortof “map” of terminals eligible for connection establishment. This mapcan then be used in traffic management so that the server is able toprepare probable and possible changes of terminals.

FIG. 4 shows an example relating to the outlining of a map of terminalsand exchange of terminals. This Figure shows a symbolic Internet and, inconnection therewith, a server 420 according to the invention and fiveterminals DT1 to DT5. Terminals DT1, DT2 and DT3 are located so close toeach other that they can communicate with one another using theirtransceivers. Terminal DT1 further includes a GPS (Global PositioningSystem) receiver so that it can send its coordinates to the server.Marking a geographical reference point may be useful in forming the mapif there are several such reference points. Terminals DT4 and DT5 inFIG. 4 are also located relatively close to each other. The coverageareas AR4 and AR5 of their respective transceivers are partlyoverlapping. In area AR5, at point P1, there is a mobile station MS1with a link CN15 to terminal DT5. The same mobile station MS 1 isdepicted in broken line at point P2 which is located in the fringe areaof coverage area AR5 and clearly within area AR4. If mobile station MS 1moves to point P2, a link CN14 will be established between it andterminal DT4, and the mobile station will report to server 420 viaterminal DT4. The mobile station will continue to have the link CN15 toterminal DT5. Let us assume that a call is established via connectionCN15. If the server has terminals DT4 and DT5 on its map, it may havesent a command in advance to terminal DT4 so that the latter can starttransferring speech signals as soon as link CN14 is established. Thehandover can be carried out also without such advance preparation, basedon a new registration of the mobile station.

FIG. 5 shows an example of alternative routes from a communicationdevice to a data network. The Figure shows the Internet and, interfacedtherewith, a server 520 according to the invention and a terminal DTE.In addition, this example case involves a wireless local area network(WLAN), depicted by an ellipse ARL representing the operating area ofthe WLAN. The LAN, too, is interfaced to the Internet via a gateway GW.The coverage area ARL of the LAN and the coverage area ART of theterminal are partly overlapping. A mobile station MS happens to belocated at a spot belonging to both coverage areas. If the LAN andterminal both use the same radio system, the mobile station can haveboth a link CNL to the LAN gateway GW and an (indirect) link CNT to theterminal DTE. Thus the gateway serves in this example as a terminalaccording to the invention. Let us assume for example that the transferrate offered through the LAN to the Internet is 2 Mbit/s and thetransfer rate offered through the terminal is 64 kbit/s. Softwareaccording to the invention at the server may have saved informationabout transfer rates of different terminals. In the case of FIG. 5 theserver may intentionally choose the LAN route with the higher capacitywhen setting up a connection with the mobile station MS. In addition tothe transfer rate, other criteria may be used as well for choosing theroute, and naturally the alternative route may be something other than aLAN.

FIG. 6 shows an example of how fixed telephone lines can be used inaccordance with the invention. The Figure shows the Internet and,interfaced therewith, a server 620 according to the invention and aterminal DT61. Additionally the Figure shows a building 650 withtelephone apparatuses PH1 to PH8. These are wired in the normal mannerthrough the house distributing center to the public switching telephonenetwork (PSTN). In addition, the telephone apparatuses are wired to ahub DT62 which is interfaced to the Internet. The hub DT62 thus servesas a terminal according to the invention. It has sent information aboutthe telephone extensions to the server 620. In the example, a call isplaced from a mobile station MS61 located in the area of terminal DT61to telephone extension PH5. As the server receives the connect request,it is able to inform the hub DT62 about the call. In the message to thehub, the called extension is identified as Number 5, for instance.

FIG. 7 shows an example of connection establishment through severalconsecutive wireless links. The Figure shows the Internet and,interfaced therewith, a server 720 according to the invention and aterminal DT71. In the coverage area of the terminal, there is a mobilestation MS71 with a link CN1 to the terminal DT71. Additionally there isa second mobile station MS72 which is out of reach of all terminalsaccording to the invention. However, said mobile stations are so closeto each other that a link CN2 is established between them. The softwarein the mobile stations is compiled such that the mobile stations canserve as relay stations. Thus, when a call addressed to a communicationdevice arrives from mobile station MS72, mobile station MS71 forwardsthis call to terminal DT71. Once a network connection to the calleddevice has been established, mobile station MS71 also forwards thepackets to and from mobile station MS72 during the connection.

FIG. 8 shows both the Internet and a network 800 dealing with mobiletraffic, which network includes radio access networks and a fixed corenetwork. In the example of FIG. 8 there is a mobile station MS81 havinga link to an Internet terminal DT81 according to the invention, and asecond mobile station MS82 having a link to a terminal DT82 according tothe invention. In addition, the mobile stations exchange signalingmessages with the mobile network 800 in the normal manner. As wasmentioned earlier, when mobile station MS81, for instance, calls mobilestation MS82, connection establishment may be first attempted via a datanetwork, which in this example, too, is the Internet. If such aconnection cannot be established, the server 820 sends out a message tothat effect, and mobile station MS81 naturally then places a normal callto the mobile network. The mobile stations may also be arranged so as toshift the connection over to the mobile network if a connection can beestablished via the Internet but the connection quality becomesunacceptable either within the Internet or in either of the local links.Furthermore, the mobile network can always be used otherwise, too. Itcan be used e.g. to establish short-term connections for establishing anInternet connection or for transferring usage data. Information to betransferred may also be divided during a session: Transfers requiringrelatively low capacity such as the transfer of a speech signal, aremade via the mobile network. Transfers requiring a relatively highcapacity such as the transfer of live pictures and large data files andtransfers requiring high data integrity, are made via the data network.

FIG. 9 shows a distributed server architecture. Therein the serverfunctions are distributed in data network terminals according to theinvention. Thus there are not necessarily terminals that are justterminals; the terminals are at the same time servers. The Figure showsthe Internet and, interfaces therewith, three servers 921, 922 and 923.Each server has a certain coverage area within which wirelesscommunication devices can establish data links to the server. Forexample, communication devices C11, C12 and C13 are located in thecoverage area A91 of server 921. The server primarily manages trafficwithin its own area. Should a call from a communication device beaddressed to a communication device farther away, the server in questioncan send to the other servers an inquiry about whether the called devicehas registered itself anywhere. In one area A91 there is among thecommunication devices a video terminal VD for receiving relativelyhigh-quality video and audio.

Above in conjunction with the description of FIG. 8 was mentioned theuse of a mobile network in establishing an Internet connection. Let usassume that a communication device C11 in the area of server 921 in FIG.9 calls a communication device C25 in the area of server 922. Theconnection is first established through a mobile network. Using thisconnection, device C11 sends the network address of server 921 to deviceC25, which in turn sends it further to terminal 922. Similarly, deviceC25 sends the network address of server 922 to device C11, which in turnsends it further to terminal 921. After that, the servers can carry outthe transfers of data packets to the appropriate addresses just liketerminals.

Examples of the system according to the invention were given above. Theinvention is not limited to those examples. A communication device maybe any apparatus that has a unique identifier and a suitabletransceiver. Such an apparatus may be e.g. a cordless telephone attachedto a wireline extension. A transceiver may be an external component to acommunication device associated therewith. Transceivers utilizeBluetooth technology, for example. They may also be in accordance withsome other radio system, or the transfer system based on them may be aninfrared link. A terminal may be a dedicated processor-based device ore.g. a PC workstation equipped with special hardware and software. Aterminal may also be an apparatus in the category of entertainmentelectronics, such as a so-called set-top box for digital TV, equippedwith a data network interface. Units participating in connectionestablishment can be equipped with programs utilizing known encryptionmethods in order to enhance information security. Furthermore, convertednetwork addresses can be used instead of real ones. The way ofconversion is known only to the server and the terminal in question.Moreover, the network address can be altered in a predetermined manneraccording to the time of the day, for example, so that potentialtracking attempts by outsiders become even more difficult. Theinventional idea can be applied in different ways within the scopedefined by the independent claims 1 and 17.

What is claimed is:
 1. A tangible machine-readable storage devicecomprising instructions that, when executed by a hardware processor of amachine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising: sending arequest, from a first communication device, to establish a firstconnection with a second communication device during a session; causingthe first connection to be established over a data network based on therequest; in response to a quality of the first connection over the datanetwork being low, causing a second connection to be established;shifting communication from the first connection to the secondconnection based on the quality of the first connection over the datanetwork being low; and dividing transmission of information during thesession, the dividing comprising transmitting high capacity data via thefirst connection over the data network and transmitting low capacitydata over a telecommunications network.
 2. The tangible machine-readablestorage device of claim 1, wherein the data network comprises a networkfor transporting packets.
 3. The tangible machine-readable storagedevice of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise monitoringthe quality of the first connection over the data network.
 4. Thetangible machine-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the causingthe second connection to be established comprises causing the secondconnection to be established over the telecommunications network.
 5. Thetangible machine-readable storage device of claim 4, wherein thetelecommunications network comprises a mobile network.
 6. The tangiblemachine-readable storage device of claim 4, wherein thetelecommunications network comprises a public switched telephonenetwork.
 7. The tangible machine-readable storage device of claim 1,wherein the causing the second connection to be established comprisescausing the second connection to be established over a second datanetwork.
 8. The tangible machine-readable storage device of claim 1,wherein the high capacity data comprises at least one of a picture, alarge data file, or a file requiring high data integrity; and the lowcapacity data comprises a speech signal.
 9. A method comprising: sendinga request, from a first communication device, to establish a firstconnection with a second communication device during a session; causingthe first connection to be established over a data network based on therequest; in response to a quality of the first connection over the datanetwork being low, causing a second connection to be established;shifting communication, using a hardware processor, from the firstconnection to the second connection based on the quality of the firstconnection over the data network being low; and dividing transmission ofinformation during the session, the dividing comprising transmittinghigh capacity data via the first connection over the data network andtransmitting low capacity data over a telecommunications network. 10.The method of claim 9, wherein the data network comprises a network fortransporting packets.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the operationsfurther comprise monitoring the quality of the first connection over thedata network.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the causing the secondconnection to be established comprises causing the second connection tobe established over the telecommunications network.
 13. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the telecommunications network comprises a mobilenetwork.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein the telecommunicationsnetwork comprises a public switched telephone network.
 15. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the causing the second connection to be establishedcomprises causing the second connection to be established over a seconddata network.
 16. The method of claim 9, wherein the high capacity datacomprises at least one of a picture, a large data file, or a filerequiring high data integrity; and the low capacity data comprises aspeech signal.
 17. A system comprising: a device having a hardwareprocessor, the device to: send a request, from a first communicationdevice, to establish a first connection with a second communicationdevice during the session; cause the first connection to be establishedover a data network based on the request; in response to a quality ofthe first connection over the data network being low, cause a secondconnection to be established; shift communication, using the hardwareprocessor, from the first connection to the second connection based onthe quality of the first connection over the data network being low; anddivide transmission of information during the session by transmittinghigh capacity data via the first connection over the data network andtransmitting low capacity data over a telecommunications network. 18.The system of claim 17, wherein the device is further to monitor thequality of the first connection over the data network.
 19. The system ofclaim 17, wherein the second connection to be established is over thetelecommunications network.
 20. The system of claim 17, wherein thesecond connection to be established is over a second data network.